Neon Gravel Horizon Chapter Twelve: The Long Stretch East

            The bus ride from Utah to New York took three days. Arthur didn't have the Mustang, didn't have the money—he had refused the settlement check, leaving it on the table, though he had signed the NDA out of pure fear. He was traveling on the last of his own cash, sitting in the back of a Greyhound bus that smelled of floor wax and desperation.

            The American landscape rolled past the window, a blur of cornfields and truck stops. He didn't film any of it. His Leica stayed in his bag, buried under his dirty laundry.

            He felt a deep, aching hollow in his chest. Every time he closed his eyes, he saw Beatrice. Not the star, but the girl in the hoodie who liked her coffee too sweet and her music too loud.

            He checked his phone at every stop. The news was full of her.

            “BEATRICE RETURNS: STAR RECOVERED FROM KIDNAPPER.”

            “MARCUS ANNOUNCES NEW SEASON AND COCKTAIL TOUR FINALE IN NYC.”

Neon Gravel Horizon Chapter Eleven: Contracts and Cold Realities

            The police station in Moab was a squat, tan building that felt like a furnace. Arthur sat in an interrogation room, the fluorescent lights humming overhead. He had been there for six hours. They hadn't charged him yet, but they hadn't let him go either.

            The door opened, and a man in a very expensive suit walked in. It wasn't Marcus. It was a lawyer with a face like a hawk.

            “My name is Leonard.” he said, sitting across from Arthur. “I represent Beatrice’s production company.”

            “Where is she?” Arthur asked, his voice cracking.

            “She’s being processed. And then she’s going back to Los Angeles. There’s a plane waiting.”

Neon Gravel Horizon Chapter Ten: The Architecture of Trust

            The door of the SUV opened, and Marcus stepped out. He looked exactly as he did on TV—perfectly tailored suit, hair that defied the desert wind, and an expression of practiced, paternal concern.

            “Beatrice, darling.” he said, his voice smooth as silk. “Thank god you’re safe.”

            Beatrice stepped in front of Arthur, her body tense. “Stay back, Marcus.”

            “It’s over, Bea. The police are on their way. We’ve managed to keep the 'kidnapping' angle out of the major papers for now, but this... this boy needs to answer for what he’s done.”

            “He hasn't done anything!” she shouted. “I went with him. I chose this.”

What Are The Wrestling Diaries?

In 2001, disenchanted with the impending monopoly that Vince McMahon had on the American wrestling scene a chance reading of a two-page article in the Eastern Daily Press led to my renewed interest in the British wrestling product, and, more specifically, the Norwich-based World Association of Wrestling.

Over the next weeks and months I documented my interactions and communications with various parties involved in the company in my online blog, The Two Sheds Review, which at the time was just hitting it's stride, read by thousands of wrestling fans around the world. Yours truly would later enjoy a four-year stint in WAW, wearing many hats, including webmaster, writer, and occasional referee. Upon leaving at the end of 2005 both writer and wrestling company went on to other things, with The Two Sheds Review in particular going on to become Britain's longest-running wrestling and MMA blog, lasting sixteen years.

The Thursday Rock Show: Drivetime III

We're back with another edition of The Thursday Rock Show, and the third in our Drivetime mini-series, bringing to you ten more songs that have connections to cars and the world of travel.

Buy My Book!

If you liked the blog, why not buy my book?

In the heart of London, a series of impossible crimes has left the Metropolitan Police reeling. Vaults are being decimated by unnatural, extreme temperature shifts—some frozen solid to absolute zero, others melted into slag in seconds. Inspector Paul Solo, a man who prides himself on meticulous procedure and cold, hard facts, finds himself utterly out of his depth as he encounters a reality that defies every law of physics he has ever known.

Caught between the growing panic of a city under siege and his superior’s stubborn refusal to accept the truth, Solo is forced to look beyond the mundane. When a mysterious, ancient figure named Doctor Phineas Magus appears, he reveals a terrifying reality: London is built upon a hidden nexus of ley lines, and a dark, unseen power is systematically draining them to fuel a ritual that could shatter the city.

As Solo is pulled into a world of magic, secret syndicates, and powerful puppet masters, he discovers that the elusive criminal known as "Celsius" is not the monster the police fear, but a pawn trapped in a deadly game of coercion. Now, a disgraced detective and a weary wizard must form an unlikely alliance to stop an ancient threat that hides in plain sight.

The battle for London has moved into the shadows. With the city’s heart at stake and the lines between good and evil blurring, Paul Solo must transform from a lawman of the streets into a guardian of the extraordinary. But in a world where nature itself can be weaponized, the price of magic is steep—and the next shift in the ley lines could be the city's last.

You can buy Anglo-Force: The Celsius Enigma on Amazon at https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0H3KSKCZQ

Social Media Discoveries 66: Scratch City, Ely Jaffe, The Shaken Bakers, Pickin' On Series and More!

Episode 66 of our Social Media Discoveries series is upon us, and this week we've got quite a bit of bluegrass for you, including some from that well-known bluegrass hotspot in Wales. There's also a guy with a stylophone and a guitar, and a ska version of a popular Queen classic.

What Does It Take To Get Noticed Around Here?

I was reading something on Facebook a little while ago, written by a bloke who's recently lost his job and is trying to earn a bit of a living doing the content creator thing, and it kind of resonated with me a little.

 

You see, he was basically asking his Facebook friends and followers for help. He simply asked them if they could help him out by commenting and possibly sharing some of his posts, because by doing this it would show the Facebook algorithm that people are paying attention to what he does.